The Nine Heavens
That afternoon, Long Tian waited on the hillside behind the house until Yu Jin stood forty feet away on the opposite side.
"Attack with all your might!" Long Tian lowered his hands to his sides, "I neither dodge nor defend."
Yu Jin glanced at him, asking no further questions. His Power of Origin surged from his palm—a golden-black light band shot straight towards him with full force, moving at incredible speed, leaving a shallow trench in the ground along its path. Long Tian stood still, only glancing sideways when the light band was a foot away from his chest— the Dragon Shadow behind him raised its right claw and pressed it forward, a gray-gold light wall spreading out from the claw's tip to meet the light band. When the two forces collided, there was no explosion, no shock. After hitting the light wall, the light band was completely deflected, like water encountering a slanted guide, slicing smoothly a foot away from Long Tian's side, leaving a diagonal cut about two inches deep on the mountain wall thirty feet away. The edges of the cut were as smooth as a mirror, without cracking or peeling.
Yu Jin withdrew his Power of Origin. He walked to the cut in the mountain wall and touched the cut surface with his hand, his fingertips tracing the smooth, mirror-like surface, as if touching the surface of wood that had been sanded all night. He lowered his hand and turned to look at Long Tian: "It's all been deflected; not a single ounce of power has been released onto you."
Long Tian looked at his right claw; the gray-gold light layer was fading. The right claw of the Dragon Shadow behind him was also retracting in sync, its movement identical to his own, but the retraction was slightly larger, as if it had taken a half-degree extra buffer compared to the main body. The Origin Return Pearl rotated steadily in the middle of his chest cavity, and the new core pulsed as usual; the consumption of both was less than 30% of its peak state.
He looked up into the distance. The ridgeline of the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range stretched out at the edge of his vision, mountain ranges extending into the distance, meeting the clouds at the horizon. He stood on the hillside, gazing in that direction, while the Dragon Shadow behind him also looked in the same direction, its four eyes open simultaneously on either side of his shoulders, the vertical line on its forehead not glowing—it was simply closed. There was no wind. The wind paused for a moment at the section of the mountain wall that had been cut by the force of the Dragon Shadow's light wall before it resumed blowing, like a gust of air being brought in by a suddenly pushed-open door before returning to its original direction. The wind blew from behind him, brushing against the edges of the gray-gold light layer on his shoulders and back, the edges of the Dragon Shadow's scales making a slight friction sound in the wind, the luster of those scales maintaining a uniform brightness in this blowing air, without fluctuation.
Long Tian raised his hands from his sides, one on each side. The Dragon Shadow behind him simultaneously unfurled its wings—the first time it had ever opened its wings, this structure never before revealed. Two gray-gold wing membranes spread horizontally from the Dragon Shadow's shoulder blades, its wingspan nearly twice as wide as Long Tian's own Yin-Yang Twin Wings. The scales along the edges were arranged in a serrated pattern, and when it opened, it produced a low hum, like an entire gong being struck simultaneously within its body cavity. He felt the scales on his back, which had receded, reappear at this moment, spreading along his spine from the back of his neck to his waist. Each scale maintained a synchronized breathing rhythm with the scales of the Dragon Shadow behind him—it wasn't him urging the scales, but the Dragon Shadow's action of opening its wings that triggered the scales to respond automatically.
He stretched out his arms and then slowly pushed his right palm forward. Simultaneously, the Dragon Shadow raised its right claw, and the instant Long Tian's right palm was fully extended, the Dragon Shadow stretched its right claw forward from his side—the entire Dragon Shadow moved forward a short distance during his palm thrust, detaching from his back and hovering about ten feet away in the air. Its wings were spread, its head slightly raised, and all four eyes were wide open, each pupil burning with tiny particles of light, like four lamp wicks lit simultaneously, illuminating the same direction.
Long Tian withdrew his hand and let it hang at his side. The Dragon Shadow remained suspended in place, neither dissipating nor returning to his back. It continued to float about ten feet in front of him, like a ship that had just sailed out of the dock and, after untying the last mooring line, slid forward a short distance at an extremely slow speed before stopping in its new position.
Yu Jin stood beside him and witnessed the moment the Dragon Shadow detached from his back. He saw the light and shadow completely peel away from Long Tian's spine, like a layer of old paper carefully unfurled, intact and straight, becoming an independent entity. The Dragon Shadow floated in the air between the two, nearly twice its previous length, its scales neatly arranged. The vertical line on its forehead did not glow, but upon closer inspection, one could see a slit in the middle of the line thinner than a hair—closed, yet the traces of closure were visible, like an eye that had been closed for a long time, waiting to open again when the time came.
Long Tian gazed at the Dragon Shadow hovering before him. He could feel the connection still there, though it had shifted from a tight embrace to an elongated one. The Origin Return Pearl and the new core continued to supply the Dragon Shadow with the basic energy needed to maintain its form. The connection was thin yet resilient, like a tendon repeatedly stretched to its limit yet never broken. He felt the new core in his chest cavity continuously providing a stable output while also grinding against his own structure at an extremely low amplitude. Each grinding made the connection between him and the Dragon Shadow smoother, like a copper ring on a wooden frame being repeatedly pulled on a crossbar until the scraping sensation disappeared. The light and shadow remained steadily suspended in the wind, its wings folded to its sides, its four eyes... It rotated slightly, as if adapting to a new position where it no longer needed to rely on its spine for anchoring. Clouds drifted across the sky above it at a normal speed, and when the wind blew across the hillside, the edges of its wing membranes were tugged by the airflow, only to return to their original position afterward, like something trying to stabilize its center of gravity as it familiarized itself with a new way of standing. Long Tian stood in place, watching it complete its first full independent hover in mid-air, feeling the Origin Return Pearl in his chest steadily supplying the basic energy needed to support it at a new frequency. The connection was continuous and balanced, like a well rope fixed to the edge of a deep well, still leaving a continuous traction in his hand.
Yu Jin stood beside him, the dark gray bead emitting a steady, continuous glow from his collarbone. He glanced back at Long Tian, and the golden-black Yu Jin in his eyes flickered slightly, like a flickering Core Flame, already burning steadily in the shadows, now illuminated by a newly ignited light. He didn't speak, but the light lingered in his eyes for more than twice as long as he usually blinked. When his gaze returned to where Dragon Shadow had been, the light was still burning brightly in the Yu Jin within his eyes, like a long-burning lamp finally finding another light to shine upon.
Long Tian stood on the hillside, the wind blowing from behind him. The Dragon Shadow hovered about ten feet in front of him, its gray-gold body slightly adjusting the angle of its wing membranes to adapt to the changing airflow, like a fledgling eagle that had just learned to hover independently and had learned how to feel the wind while standing still after its first leap from the edge of a cliff. Its four eyes looked in his direction at the same time—four gazes pierced through the air and met Long Tian's gaze, like two mirrors reflecting each other at a distance. The vertical line on its forehead remained closed, but behind those four gazes, a light that had not yet opened, still waiting for its moment, was closed. Long Tian could feel the residual warmth slowly circulating at the edge of that closed light through the pulse of the Origin Return Pearl, waiting for a moment when it knew it was time to open.